#ithlinne aep aegli

[revoevokukil]

The Trap of Prescience

What else could be explained in the Witcher if we were to interpret the elven Sages' & Ciri's prophetic abilties in the fashion of Dune?

Dune's take on prescience is that once a future is perceived, it is set in stone.

It's basically the QM measurement rule bringing about wave function collapse into a defined state, which means a particle (I'll grandiosely call it "reality" for the sake of fantasy) loses its superposition (potential to be in all potential states) and takes on a defined property; i.e. one actual reality is chosen from among the many possible ones. Alternatively, the wave function might not collapse at all (many worlds interpretation), with all possible worlds continuing to exist as we, upon observation, simply become part of one of the realities while losing track of others.

In the case of the latter, this poses a question whether it is at all possible for a prescient being to continue "course-correcting." (and what about other observers, equally capable of collapsing the wave function? that would mean other prescients for our literary purposes, as we ignore that actually it could be light, air, etc.)

“This is the awe-inspiring universe of magic: There are no atoms, only waves and motions all around. Here, you discard all belief in barriers to understanding. You put aside understanding itself. This universe cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be detected in any way by fixed perceptions. It is the ultimate void where no preordained screens occur upon which forms may be projected. You have only one awareness here — the screen of the magi: Imagination! Here, you learn what it is to be human. You are a creator of order, of beautiful shapes and systems, an organizer of chaos.”

Everything being an ocean of pure energy potential, the reality we think we know sort of "emerges" based on the conditions and our perception of those conditions. Truly the waves of reality remain in constant fluctuation, while we experience the "concrete" reality—that we label and categorize (imagining a shape for it)—as emerging from those more fundamental levels.

Magic, then, is about the perceiving mind creating the ultimate meaning for what can and cannot be over the raw senses. When an Aen Saevherne, for example, is able to perceive the future accurately they are, in effect, creating it.

At the quantum level our universe can be seen as an indeterminate place, predictable in a statistical way only when you employ large enough numbers. Between that universe and a relatively predictable one where the passage of a single planet can be timed to a picosecond, other forces come into play. For the in-between universe where we find our daily lives, that which you believe is a dominant force. Your beliefs order the unfolding of daily events. If enough of us believe, a new thing can be made to exist. Belief structure creates a filter through which chaos is sifted into order. - Analysis of the Tyrant, the Taraza File: GB Archives Heretics of Dune

Knowledge, however, has no uses without purpose, but purpose - arising out of wishing, desiring, and hope - builds the enclosing walls and diverts one away from infinity into a particular narrow possibility. That is the trap of prescience - to (seek to) know the future absolutely is to be trapped into that future absolutely.

To put a stop to pretending like QM is actually my thing, back to literature. I pondered the orb on this matter in April. And I have addenums to make! (for example, it's not correct to equate the Aen Saevherne to Laplace's Demons; we're beyond classical mechanics)

First, as noted, if prescient beings are more or less blind to the movements of other figures with foresight, it should make conspiring around Ciri possible for someone like Eredin. Secondly, characters who can predict the future might not necessarily wish to look for certain things precisely should they suspect they might not like the answer. For example, contemplating one's own demise (as Auberon may have done).

'"Every judgement teeters on the brink of error," Leto explained. "To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty. - Leto II Children of Dune

There are ways then, in which to use prescience correctly, and ways in which to use it with terrible ends.

The future that you see is the future that you will act upon (even by choosing not to act upon it). In fact, you can say that you have already acted upon it. A thing seen is a thing that has been. And, by being a character of sufficient Influence, positioning, and time, who envisions this, you will be locking everyone else into your future. So if the future includes something you would rather not see come about, you will be locked into a cascade of decisions you have to make in order to steer it - you might alter things by killing someone, or yourself, but things could proceed toward that destiny anyway and with much larger costs. You become trapped, you cannot step off course anymore.

Basically, the art of foresight then, seems to consist in knowing or sensing how - when looking ahead - to maintain degrees of freedom that would allow for creativity in the act of creating the future. An unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty, so future can happen itself in a desirable manner.

"...no one aside from them is capable of understanding their writings. Elven manuscripts, in most cases, mean tortuous symbolism, acrostics, occasionally even codes. The Elder Speech is always, to put it mildly, ambiguous and, when written down, may have as many as ten meanings." - Codringher The Time of Contempt

Can you imagine Ithlinne slapping her colleagues in the world of the Aen Seidhe with her augury, signalling that all the landscaping and fey architectural drip must again be packed up in a bit, because this world too will go to the dogs? A very frustrating way to start the day, to be sure. Except then it becomes difficult to move between realities at will. Bffr. I'd wager a portion of Aen Saevherne's to-do list includes handling the infernal catch-up game that results from their own gift to elvendom.

And, as ever, it's the character and desires of the dreamers that play a central role in what happens. This is literature; here, on the screen of the magi, you learn what it is to be human.

Imagine then Lara Dorren, who is locked into a future of her race's making, hoping for a union between that which is elven and human, knowing it will happen eventually, as it has already happened before.

Imagine Avallac'h, whose sight is set on a time beyond the tale involving the child surprise and her witcher, since he is yet to accept amor fati and how nothing is lost and everything is transformed.

Imagine Auberon, holding on to his role as the demiurge-ruler whose expired ambition tempts him to glance at fate that remains beyond his own existence, glimpsing, in the process, at the sole thing he has yet failed to experience.

Imagine Ciri, who cannot grow and begin to face herself and the fate she will forge until she has returned to the beginning of her needs and slain the darkness that took herself from her.

Or imagine Geralt, who cannot see the future, but can only hope for one, and acts as his heart wills it regardless of what he is told the narrative is going to be like; nothing for him can go differently than it does.

...and eventually humanity, before learning the value of balance, goes on to conquer nature and achieve transhumanity, facing exile from the world they've destroyed (that has tried destroying them). Long-long after the elves, familiar yet so alien, have left for the beyond. And the two remain differentiated only by their mirror image standing several cycles ahead and parallel of the other in Time. Everything repeats itself. The fantasy worlds fragment and multiply, ad infinitum. Everyone learns something, nobody learns anything.

[stromuprisahat]

Wait, this

is supposed to be Ithlinne? This

Ithlinne?

[twyllodrus]

– Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien

[wyrmlover]

Aen Ithlinnespeath, Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien's prophecy

Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf's blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst shrooms and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but burst into flame.

Ess'tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves...

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 12: the hen ichaer

i realize i've been mentioning the hen ichaer without really explaining it, and for that i apologize. but without further ado, let's go

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

series masterpost

general

the hen ichaer is basically a magical gene that originated with the elven sorceress, scholar, and princess, lara dorren aep shiadhal

it can lie dormant or inactive for generations, but when someone is an activated carrier of the gene, they are called a source

sources have an insane capability for magic, it's so intense that without instruction they are a huge danger to themselves and/or others. remember pavetta's betrothal feast? hurricanes should not happen indoors

same thing with ciri's sonic scream.

obviously, the hen ichaer is highly weaponize-able, but it's difficult to put this into theory since the magic is so strong that it can easily kill the person who carries it

most important is that the hen ichaer can open ard gaeth, the gates between worlds. you may remember that the witcher is a multiverse, and the continent is just one of countless worlds

aen elle

the aen elle, elves who live in another world called tir ná lia, controlled at least one gate that they used to get slaves from other worlds

however, this was before the hen ichaer was seriously studied. unicorns are also capable of opening ard gaeth, and were present in tir ná lia, so the aen elle would kidnap them to be used as their world-hopping-genocide key. yeah, the aen elle are seriously fucked

the king of the aen elle was named auberon muircetach, and he was very well known for his wars with the unicorns, who weren't too keen on being enslaved for the purpose of conquering other worlds

the hen ichaer came into play when auberon noticed that his daughter, lara dorren, had pretty intense magical abilities. like, ard gaeth opening abilities.

auberon, lara, and a few other elves began studying the gene and trying to figure out how it works and how to use it.

through this study is how we got the title aen saevherne, which is used to distinguish an elven mage with extensive knowledge of history, science, magic, and, most importantly, the elder blood.

both lara and auberon were aen saevherne, as was lara's husband-to-be, avallac'h, and avallac'h's foster son, caranthir ar-feiniel

ithlinne's prophecy

ithlinne aegli aep aevenien was an elven prophet known for her incredibly dark prophecies that she delivered at totally random times. how dark were they? ithlinne's prophecies were almost exclusively about the death of all humanity and/or the end of the world. she was fun at parties.

anyway, when we talk about ithlinne we really only mean one specific prophecy, aen ithlinnespeath. to be confusing it's usually referred to as ithlinne's prophecy

here's the prophecy itself:

Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf's blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but burst into flame. Ess'tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves...

what does that mean? well, the white chill (aka the white frost) is a massive ice age that has been approaching the continent for years. don't believe me? the white frost has destroyed countless worlds in the past, and it literally cannot be stopped. the only way to save the world is by the power of the hen ichaer.

here's a perfectly frightening visual of the white frost

ithlinne didn't elaborate on the how, but we now know that the only to survive the white frost is by finding a new world and massively evacuating the continent through ard gaeth, which can only be opened by the power of the hen ichaer.

genetics

clearly, the hen ichaer is important enough to literally save, or end, the world, but the aen elle did a famously terrible job of studying it. like, you'd think they'd be good at that, but no. to their credit, it is a bit complicated

first, there are multiple types of elder blood genes, the main gene, the latent gene, and the activator gene. to actually show the powers of the hen ichaer, someone would need to either have one latent and one activator, or the main gene.

let's go back to secondary school biology for a second, remember punnet squares? these fuckers

the letters in a punnet square represent a genotype, or the two alleles that are inherited from the parents. phenotypes, on the other hand, are what you see on the outside. for example, a genotype would be Aa but a phenotype would be brown eyes.

while the main gene is a simple dominant allele (shown by a capital letter on a punnet square), both the latent and activator genes are semi-dominant, meaning that when they meet they create a new phenotype: the innate magical ability that makes you a source.

it gets a little less scientific here so bear with me; this new phenotype is so powerful that it sometimes creates a whole new genotype. so instead of having one activator gene and one latent gene, the two would merge and you'd be left with only one (very powerful) main gene. this is the only single gene that actually has magic and it's a dominant gene, so you only need to have one to have the power.

but, the latent and activator genes don't always combine. you still have the full powers when they stay separate, but it is then less likely to pass the hen ichaer your children.

complicated? very much so. but in practice it's a lot easier.

for simplicity's sake i'll call the activator gene g/a, latent gene g/L, main gene g/m and a regular nonmutated gene g/r. to be a source, the genes you inherit would be g/a g/L, but they may combine to be just g/m. your average person would be g/r g/r and a carrier would be either g/a g/r or g/L g/r.

clearly, this makes tracking it pretty messy, since generations of people can be carriers without having a single source

tracking the hen ichaer

for now, let's do what those elven sages couldn't and track then hen ichaer, starting with lara dorren

eventually, lara met an exceptionally talented human mage, cregennan of lod, and they were lab partners (oh my god they were lab partners) in the study of the hen ichaer.

eventually, lara met an exceptionally talented human mage, cregennan of lod, and they were lab partners (oh my god they were lab partners) in the study of the hen ichaer.

for all the studying, lara and cregennan's own genes have always been something of a mystery. elven mages don't tend to have any issues with using themselves as lab rats, so it's entirely possible that lara and cregennan, knowingly or not, mutated their own genes in their research.

ultimately, it doesn't matter what lara and cregennan's genes originally were. by some happy little accident, the two eventually ended up with at least one activator gene and at least one latent gene between them.

later, when lara and cregennan made their own happy little accident, riannon, she inherited one of each gene (g/a g/L), making her a source. however, riannon's genes did not combine as the elves expected, which made her a little harder to study.

riannon eventually met king goidemar of temeria (g/r g/r), and they had two children named fiona and amavet. i'll start with fiona, who the aen elle managed to figure out had the latent gene, making her g/L r

fiona ended up having a baby with king coram II of cintra (g/r g/r), they named him corbett, and he inherited fiona's g/L and one of coram's g/r.

the aen elle lost track of the hen ichaer when they studied riannon's other kid amavet. see, amavet was kind of a whore. he had twins, muriel and crispin, with the married countess anna kameny. obviously, these children weren't legitimate, and when the angry count kameny murdered amavet a few months later, he was officially childless

the elves did, however, manage to figure out that amavet had riannon's g/a gene and goidemar's g/r gene. anna kameny was just g/r g/r, and crispin ended up being g/r g/r as well. destiny does favour the hen ichaer, but sometimes it's just not meant to be. muriel, on the other hand, did inherit her father's activator gene and was g/a g/r.

let's hop back to corbett, fiona and coram's g/L g/r son. he and princess elen of kaedwen (g/r g/r) had a son, dagorad, who got corbett's latent gene and one of elen's regular ones, meaning he was g/L g/r

muriel married robert of garramore (g/r g/r), and their daughter adalia, the dramatically posed lady right there, had the same genetic combination as her mother, g/a g/r

this is where it gets even weirder

the lovely adalia married dagorad. her second cousin. they shared riannon as their great grandmother. feel better in the fact that it was not intentional, adalia's mother, muriel, was not officially riannon's granddaughter. no one would have even known, but adalia's g/a met up with dagorad's g/L in their daughter, calanthe

for the first time since riannon, the hen ichaer was back, and calanthe's parents genes combined to give her g/m g/r

while it took generations of destiny and accidental incest to make the hen ichaer happen again, now that calanthe had the main gene there was a 50% chance she would pass it to her child, which, of course, she did

calanthe and her husband roegner (g/r g/r) had pavetta, who inherited the g/m from her mother. no one knew about this until pavetta literally created a source hurricane, and was already pregnant

pavetta and duny's (g/r g/r) daughter, ciri, inherited the main gene from her mother and was a source.

sources

it's important to note that a source is not necessarily an incredibly powerful sorcerer, merely a person who has the genetic predisposition required to channel very intense magic

sources, like anyone else, can be bad students, allergic to potions, or just generally averse to magic on all levels except heredity. there is also no way to guarantee that even the most willing source will be good at using magic, in fact it's far more common that they will be really really bad at it. sources are extra susceptible to the chaotic state of magic in the world, and many end up pretty seriously harmed by it.

magical talent tends to make itself known in very emotional situations, like the death of a parent or a war. the same applies for sources, but they have an extra rule: their full powers are off limits until they lose their virginities

now, netflix has not mentioned that rule to be true or false, but i'm going to think of it as strictly book/game/etc canon, because ciri is 10 years old when netflix shows her using her source powers for the first time

the virginity rule makes things even more complicated, as customs about premarital sex are pretty strict in the witcher world (well, among nobility), and the dudes didn't seem to have fast reflexes. what i'm saying is that getting pregnant the first time you had sex was not uncommon. sources couldn't even use, and likely weren't aware of, their powers until they were already passing them on to another generation.

and even still, there is no guarantee that someone who is a source will ever actually show their powers. calanthe had the genetics, but she wasn't a mage. what happened? we don't really know. after calanthe married, cintra was pretty peaceful; there were no invasions or massive upheavals that could put enough stress on her to show her powers. plus, her parents didn't know she had any magical powers, so they didn't give her the training that would develop them, and she was a very level headed person who would likely be unaffected by many of the things that would make another source lose their shit.

[thirstyforred]

white rose and white heron

Prompt: turned into an animal

Relationships: Aelirenn | White Rose of Shaerrawedd/Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Content Warnings: Light Angst, Established Relationship, Shapeshifting

Summary:

Aelirenn is young, so young that many still consider her a child, but she's so full of life and hope, and naivety, all the things she will soon lose. But she doesn't know it yet, blissfully unaware of what Destiny has in store for her.

@witcher-rarepair-summer-bingo

[arreloi]

"Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf's blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but burst into flame.

Ess'tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves..."

~Aen Ithlinnespeath, Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien's prophecy

[theclashofqueens]

Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf’s blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but burst into flame.

-Aen Ithlinnespeath, Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien’s prophecy

[leonoratupelomemola]

En verdad os digo que se acerca el tiempo de la espada y el hacha, la época de la tormenta salvaje. Se acerca el Tiempo del Invierno Blanco y de la Luz Blanca. El Tiempo de la Locura y el Tiempo del Odio, Tedd Deireádh, el Tiempo del Fin. El mundo morirá entre la escarcha y resucitará de nuevo junto con el nuevo sol. Resucitará de entre la Antigua Sangre, de Hen Ichaer, de la semilla sembrada. De la semilla que no germina sino que estalla en llamas. ¡Ess’tuath esse! ¡Así será! ¡Contemplad las señales! Qué señales sean, yo os diré: primero se derramará sobre la tierra la sangre de los Aen Seidhe, la Sangre de los Elfos...Aen Ithlinnespeath, profecía de Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien

[wishes-and-curses]

Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf’s blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of the Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but will burst into flame. Ess’tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves…

Aen Ithlinnespeath, Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien’s prophecy // Andrzej Sapkowski, Blood of Elves, pg. 1

[theannoyingknowitall]

Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf’s blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of the Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but will burst into flame. Ess’tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves… Aen Ithlinnespeath, Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien’s prophecy

Andrzej Sapkowski, Blood of Elves

[poemasdeamoryamistad]

La Sangre De Los Elfos – Andrzej Sapkowski

Título del Libro: La Sangre De Los ElfosAutor: Andrzej SapkowskiDescripción del Libro: Aen Ithlinnespeath, profecía de Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien Andrzej Sapkowski es el gran renovador de la literatura fantástica de nuestros tiempos, un genio del lenguaje y la caracterización cuya prosa ya ha hechizado a millones de lectores en todo el mundo.Adquiere este maravilloso libro […] http://dlvr.it/N634Zq (Amor)

[librosdepoemasypoesia]

La Sangre De Los Elfos – Andrzej Sapkowski

[LIBRO de POESIA] Título del Libro: La Sangre De Los ElfosAutor: Andrzej SapkowskiDescripción del Libro: Aen Ithlinnespeath, profecía de Ithlinne Aegli aep Aevenien Andrzej Sapkowski es el gran renovador de la literatura fantástica de nuestros tiempos, un genio del lenguaje y la caracterización cuya prosa ya ha hechizado a millones de lectores en todo el mundo.Adquiere este maravilloso libro […] http://dlvr.it/N634Zv